State of Illinois Indirect Cost Rate Proposal System...2.1 Grantees invited to CARS All grantees are...

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State of Illinois Indirect Cost Rate Proposal System Powered by CARS

Training Manual for Grantees and Cognizant Agencies

February, 2017

© 2017 Crowe Horwath LLP www.crowehorwath.com

Crowe Horwath LLP is an independent member of Crowe Horwath International, a Swiss verein. Each member firm of Crowe Horwath International is a separate and independent legal entity. Crowe Horwath LLP and its affiliates are not responsible or liable for any acts or omissions of Crowe Horwath International or any other member of Crowe Horwath International and specifically disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for acts or omissions of Crowe Horwath International or any other member of Crowe Horwath International. Crowe Horwath International does not render any professional services and does not have an ownership or partnership interest in Crowe Horwath LLP. Crowe Horwath International and its other member firms are not responsible or liable for any acts or omissions of Crowe Horwath LLP and specifically disclaim any and all responsibility or liability for acts or omissions of Crowe Horwath LLP.

Table of Contents 1. Introduction and Overview ............................................................................................................. 1

2. Grantee ICRP Submission .............................................................................................................. 2 2.1 Grantees invited to CARS ...................................................................................................... 2 2.2 Logging into CARS for the first time ....................................................................................... 3 2.3 Resetting a forgotten password .............................................................................................. 5 2.4 The Workbench ...................................................................................................................... 6 2.5 The Review Steps tab and case overview ............................................................................. 7 2.6 How to save .......................................................................................................................... 10 2.7 How to reassign .................................................................................................................... 11 2.8 How to print .......................................................................................................................... 13 2.9 Completing questions, help text, required questions ........................................................... 14 2.10 Attachments .......................................................................................................................... 16 2.11 Submitting your completed ICRP form ................................................................................. 17

3. Grantee ICRP Returned for Rework ............................................................................................ 18 3.1 When an ICRP proposal is returned ..................................................................................... 18

4. Cognizant Agency Acceptance .................................................................................................... 19 4.1 How to review the ICRP submission .................................................................................... 19 4.2 How to either accept or not accept the ICRP submission .................................................... 21

5. Grantee Review and Acceptance ................................................................................................. 22

6. Appeals Process ........................................................................................................................... 24 6.1 What the Grantee needs to do ............................................................................................. 24 6.2 What the Cognizant Agent needs to do ................................................................................ 24

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1. Introduction and Overview The purpose of this document is provide a training manual for the two primary groups of end users of CARS – grantees and cognizant agencies. The purpose of this document is not to explain the indirect cost rate proposal process or explain any of the key concepts/terms pertaining to indirect cost rates. Many resources on this subject matter can be found at the State of Illinois’ Grant Accountability and Transparency Act website - https://www.illinois.gov/sites/gata/Pages/default.aspx. Grantees – entities who have received or will receive State or federal pass-through funding from the State of Illinois. Cognizant Agencies – agencies responsible for providing final acceptance of submitted indirect cost rate proposals for all grantees. Each grantee is expected to complete the indirect cost rate proposal process every state fiscal year. The State of Illinois fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30 (so State fiscal year 2018 is July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018). Regardless if the grantee is submitting an actual indirect cost rate proposal, they are selecting de minimis, they have a federally negotiated rate, or are not planning on having any indirect cost rate – all grantees must complete this process annually. This training manual is broken up into two major sections. The first covers all the aspects of CARS from the perspective of a grantee while the second covers all the aspects of CARS from the perspective of a cognizant agency. The cognizant agencies also have access to various dashboards and reports to provide them with information on all grantees progress throughout the entire process. Should you ever need assistance while using the CARS application you may contact the support line at either 1-800-599-9110 or [email protected].

https://www.illinois.gov/sites/gata/Pages/default.aspx

mailto:[email protected]

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2. Grantee ICRP Submission 2.1 Grantees invited to CARS

All grantees are initially invited to CARS to submit their indirect cost rate proposal (ICRP) by way of an email. Below is an example of what that invitation email looks like. All automated emails from CARS will come from the address [email protected]. Do not send any replies to this account as it is not monitored. As stated previously, the support contact email account is [email protected].

This email notification provides all the necessary information for a grantee to log into CARS (site URL, username, and password).



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2.2 Logging into CARS for the first time The site URL will be provided in your welcome email, however it is https://solutions.crowehorwath.com/CARS/StateofIllinoisGOMB/login.aspx. It is recommended that you bookmark this page for future reference. A screen shot of the CARS login page is provided below. Your username and password are also included in the welcome email, however, your username is your email address and the default password is GOMB@123.

https://solutions.crowehorwath.com/CARS/StateofIllinoisGOMB/login.aspx

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Upon first logging in, you will be required to change your password and select two security questions to be used in the event you forget your password in the future.

Passwords must meet certain criteria which are explained to you immediately below the password field:

This updates as you type:

After entering your new password and selecting your security answers, click Continue. You will now have to log back into CARS using your new password.

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2.3 Resetting a forgotten password If you forget your password, click the “Forgot My Password” link on the login page. You will then have to enter your username, which is your email address.

Afterwards you’ll have to provide answers to the two security questions you created upon your first login. If you have forgotten the answers to these questions you must contact support ([email protected]) to have your account reset.

After answering the security questions and clicking Submit, you may now create a new password. The new password must be different than your prior password.


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2.4 The Workbench Once you have logged into CARS you will arrive at one of two places. If you used the standard login URL (https://solutions.crowehorwath.com/CARS/StateofIllinoisGOMB/Login.aspx) you will arrive at your workbench. Here you will see all cases assigned to you. If you represent multiple grantees, you may see multiple items here. If not, it’s likely you’ll only see a single row in the table like the screen shot below.

Clicking anywhere on the row in the table will open up the case. The only other action you can perform from this page (other than signing out) is to view your previously submitted cases. If this is the first time you are completing an ICRP submission in CARS, then previously submitted cases will look like an empty grid. If you have submitted cases in the past, you will be able to look up read-only versions of those here for reference. The image below is an example of what the Previously Submitted Cases page would look if you had completed your State Fiscal Year 2017 ICRP and had just submitted your State FY 2018 case to be reviewed.

https://solutions.crowehorwath.com/CARS/StateofIllinoisGOMB/Login.aspx

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2.5 The Review Steps tab and case overview If you logged into CARS via the “Click Here” link in your email notification, you will arrive at this page (also when clicking on the row from the Workbench, you will arrive at this page). At any time you can click on the Workbench tab to return to your Workbench if needed. The Review Steps tab contains all of the questions that are required of you to complete in order to submit the ICRP. The questions are organized into blocks. You can see in the image below there are currently three blocks displaying, Welcome!, Agency Identification, and Submit. Additional blocks will appear/disappear as you complete the process via answering questions, depending on their applicability.

Case Information Tab The Case Information tab provides a basic overview of information that is provided to the CARS application. It is not necessary to visit this tab.

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Attachments Tab The Attachments tab will be used any time you wish to attach a document to the case. To attach a document you’ll click Choose File, browse to the document and select it.

After the document has been selected, click Upload:

Audit Trail Tab The Audit Trail tab tracks all changes made to the case throughout the entire lifecycle of the case. It is not necessary to visit the Audit Trail tab.

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2.6 How to save As you are entering your responses within the Review Steps tab, CARS will automatically be saving your work when you perform certain actions. Any time you click the Next or Previous buttons at the bottom of the page, all your information is saved.

Any time you click directly on the name of a question block in the listing on the left (which takes you directly to that block), all your information is saved.

At any time you can click the Save diskette icon in the upper right hand corner to save your information.

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2.7 How to reassign At any time, you may reassign the ICRP case within CARS to another member of your organization. Regardless if they already have an account setup in CARS or not. This is useful if you wish to delegate the task of completing the ICRP to someone else or just need a colleague to complete it instead of yourself. When you reassign the case, you will no longer be able to edit it unless the person you reassigned it to assigns it back to you. Also, upon reassignment, the individual you assigned the case to will receive the same email notification you received informing them of what needs to be completed and how to access the system and log in.

If they do already have an account, after clicking the Reassign button, you can simply select their name from the drop down list and click Reassign.

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If they do not already have an account, click Add New User, enter their email address information, then click Submit.

You’ll be returned to the page screen and you’ll see the email address of person you entered, now simply click Reassign.

If you try to enter an email address for someone who is already in CARS, you will receive a message indicating the email already exists and you will not be allowed to re-add it.

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2.8 How to print At any time you may print your ICRP case from CARS. This will print every question that you have responded to. It is recommended you wait until answering all questions and then print a copy (can print to PDF as opposed to paper copy) for your records. To print, click the print icon in the upper right hand corner, then click the Next button.

You’ll have to wait a few moments, possibly up to 1 minute for the print output to generate. It will open up in a new tab in your browser. You can then print this by clicking the Print button at the top.

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2.9 Completing questions, help text, required questions CARS has been designed to walk you through this process. You will not have to answer any questions that are not applicable to your situation nor be asked to attach any documents that are not applicable because of the dynamic nature of the application. As you answer questions you will notice how questions appear/disappear based on applicability. Certain questions also have help text associated to them. This is indicated by a question mark with a circle around it. You may click these at any time to view the help text.

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You must answer all questions which are deemed required. All questions with an asterisk at the end are required questions (which is most of them). Asterisks highlighted in the screen shot below.

If you attempt to submit without answering required questions, you will be notified that these questions need to be answered. All blocks containing unanswered questions will be marked with a red X and all questions left unanswered will have a large red box around them so you can easily identify what needs to be completed.

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2.10 Attachments As you respond to the questions within CARS, a list of required attachments is dynamically created. The system will only ask for you to attach documents which are required. This list is intended to serve as your checklist of what you need to attach.

To actually attach the documents, simply click on the Attachments tab in the black bar and select the documents and click Upload.

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2.11 Submitting your completed ICRP form After you have responded to all questions and attached all necessary documents, you will arrive at the Submit block. This is where you will submit your completed ICRP form for review. Optionally, you may enter any additional comments you have here. To enter comments, type within the rich text box (accepts formatting such as bold, underline, and bulleted lists) and then click the “Save Comment” button. Also, if you enter text into this field and then immediately submit, that will also save your comment.

To submit, select “Submit for Review” from the drop down selection and click the Submit button.

After you submit the case, you will be returned to your workbench and the case will have disappeared. Assuming you had only a single grantee to submit the ICRP for, you should now be looking at an empty Workbench like the image below. If you select either In Process or Pending and select Submit, the case will NOT be submitted for review. It will remain assigned to you in your workbench and will need to be submitted before your ICRP can proceed through the process.

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3. Grantee ICRP Returned for Rework After you have submitted your completed ICRP it is possible it will be returned to you for rework. This most commonly occurs due to failing to attach the correct documentation, errors related to the reporting of revenue, or making an error on your ICRP template spreadsheet.

3.1 When an ICRP proposal is returned If for any reason your ICRP proposal submission is returned to you, you will immediately be notified via an email message that will look like this:

Follow the instructions in the email which direct you back into CARS to the Submit block of the case. You will find comments from the reviewer. After completing what is asked, you will then re-submit the case using the drop down select “Submit for Review” and clicking Submit like you did before. You may optionally add comments of your own if you so desire.

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4. Cognizant Agency Acceptance The following functionalities are identical for both Grantees and Cognizant Agencies. If you have questions about these items, please review the appropriate section above

• Logging into CARS for the first time (section 2.2) • Resetting a forgotten password (section 2.3) • How to save (section 2.6) • How to print (section 2.8)

After the ICRP submission has been reviewed by Crowe, it will be submitted to the Cognizant Agency for review and acceptance. All Cognizant Agencies have access to the following report which provides an overview of all cases ready for review and acceptance. The aging columns of this report indicate how long the case has been awaiting Cognizant Agency acceptance.

It is recommended that one representative from every Cognizant Agency check this report at least once per week. In addition, a snap shot of the report is emailed to all Cognizant Agency contacts every Monday morning for convenience.

4.1 How to review the ICRP submission As the Cognizant Agency for a grantee, you will need to pull cases into your Workbench to review using the “Get More Cases” button. This will automatically pull the oldest case awaiting review and acceptance for your specific agency. Each time this button is clicked it will pull one case until there are no more awaiting review for your agency. Each Cognizant Agency is setup with its own holding queue so there is no way for cases to get mixed up between agencies. To open the case you must click the arrow icon in the Actions column to the far right.

Once the case is opened, in order to view all the information provided by the grantee you will need to go to two places. The first is the Attachments tab, this is where you can view all documents that have been attached to the case

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The second is the Case History. From any of the tabs in the case, scroll down and you will see a light blue bar entitled “Case History”. Click on that bar to open up the history. From here, you may open up any of the historical records of this case. You will want to open up the most recent instance of the Grantee and/or Reviewer stages. You’ll see the history is sorted in chronological order with the newest being at the top. It is possible the case will go back and forth between the Grantee and the Crowe Reviewer multiple times, which is why you always want to open the most recent instance (closest to the top) of the stages so you are reviewing the latest information. Clicking the arrow in the row will open up a read-only version of the stage for your review.

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4.2 How to either accept or not accept the ICRP submission Once you have completed reviewing the Grantee and/or Reviewer stages, you have only a couple questions to complete within the Review Steps tab. If accepting the ICRP:

If not accepting the ICRP:

After answering those couple questions, click on the Status and Disposition tab, select either Accepted or Not Accepted, and finally click the Save diskette icon in the upper right hand corner. Adding comments here is optional. If you select Accepted, the Grantee will immediately be notified via an email message. If you select Not Accepted, the case will be returned to Crowe for rework.

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5. Grantee Review and Acceptance After the Cognizant Agency has accepted the final determination for the ICRP, an email notification is immediately sent to you, the Grantee. It looks like this:

You will need to log back into CARS to finalize your acceptance. There are only a couple of questions for you to complete at this point. You may optionally select to complete a survey. Also, you may appeal the rate if you disagree with the final determination. After filling in all the information, it is recommended you print a copy for your records (see section 2.8 “How to print” if you need assistance with printing).

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If you select either to complete the survey and/or appeal, additional blocks will need to be completed before you can submit.

Once you have answered all the questions, you will once again use the Submit block to submit your case. You will choose either “Determination Accepted” or if you are appealing, “Submit Appeal”, then click the Submit button.

If you do not chose to appeal, then congratulations you have completed the ICRP submission process and will not have to revisit this process until the next negotiation period.

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6. Appeals Process If you have chosen to appeal the final determination of your ICRP there are a few additional steps that must be taken.

6.1 What the Grantee needs to do You will need to complete the extra block of questions “Grantee Review Appeal” and then select ‘Submit Appeal” when submitting.

6.2 What the Cognizant Agent needs to do After Crowe completes a review of the submitted appeal, the cognizant agency will need to review and accept or not accept the final appeal determination. Due to the infrequency of the appeals process, your agency will be notified by Crowe when an appeal has been submitted for your review and acceptance.

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